Battery Life Management Questions from a Smartphone Newbie - T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide

Hi everyone, I am a pretty technically savvy person, but a newbie to the world of smartphones. I just got a MT4GS this week and have been getting used to it for the past few days. My main concern is the battery life - understandably, compared to my old feature phone, the smartphone is going to use a lot more juice. I just wasn't expecting to charge it overnight, have it plugged most of the day at work, and still be down to ~70% power by the time I get home. I'm not even doing anything that intense with it. It worries me to think that my phone might die on me if I'm out somewhere for the day. And what is the point of having a phone that can run programs and do all these great things, if you're afraid to use it?
After reading around here, I've already picked up a lot of great tips: I ordered a set of the Anker batteries (my phone was purchased used, and while it is physically in great condition, who knows about the battery), and I installed the 2x Battery app. I've reduced my screen brightness; turned off background data; turned off GPS; and when I'm on WiFi, I have 4G off, and vice versa.
A couple of questions:
1) Without doing anything crazy to the phone or default OS, is there anything else you recommend doing to conserve battery life?
2) In 2x Battery, there is a setting "Pause when WiFi on." The description here is kind of confusing, and I can't tell if it's working or not. If I want the mobile data connection off when connected to WiFi, do I want this option checked or unchecked? Right now I'm connected to WiFi, but it appears that mobile data is on whether this box is checked or not.
Thank you so much for all the great info so far, and for any advice you can offer me )

Well, firstly, good call on the anker batteries. I have one, and it's changed my life with this device. I went from being exactly as you described (scared to go somewhere without knowing exactly where my next source of power was) to not paying it much mind.
Secondly, if you are unrooted stock - then you have a whole lot of apps working in the background and conspiring together to drain your battery. ...and there's nothing you can do about it because both T-Mobile and HTC saw fit to place them there, running around the clock and beyond your control.
This is known as bloat, and on this phone it's beyond out of control. It's out of control on other phones, but they took it to a special place of exasperation on this one.
I am not sure about this 2x battery app you're speaking of, i've never used it. Consider this, though, it's one MORE app running on your device and draining your battery - and if you are stock this may be something you can ill afford.
As far as the wifi/data dance, this is nothing more then a feel-good measure that really isn't doing anything for you except adding to your interaction with the device. The time your screen is on to make that change takes more battery use then you would save on several hours of having one or the other switched off.
Check this link below (another XDA post):
Everything you wanted to know about Li-Ion batteries but were afraid to ask!
...and it may help you out with battery care.
For me, running my custom ROM with an anker battery and all the apps/widgets I prefer to use I can get 6-8 hours out of a charge on the anker battery with semi-steady usage.
This is with both wifi, mobile data and background data on, and the screen on but at mostly dim brightness for 4-5 of those 6-8.
If I overclock the processor to 1.7Ghz (stock it stops at 1.2Ghz) and hook it up to a television using a playstation (game console) emulator...running flat out at full speed I can drain the (anker) battery in as little as 3 hours.
Something that may interest you as time wears on and you get used to having the anker batteries and using them is what is mentioned in this thread:
external battery pack! Awesome!
...and there are many out there and good deals to be had on some, poke around a bit and you'll find one suitable if such is your desire.
One last thing to consider - make sure you are using the proper charging port.
Most USB ports on computers only push half an amp, as well as nearly every single secondary port on chargers (think car chargers with an 'extra' USB port). Half an amp is not enough current to charge the device if being used, and barely enough to see positive battery increase if not.
Make sure whatever you plug into is pushing 5volts 1amp, or you'll see your battery level continue to drop as you are charging.
(oh, and GPS is something you WILL see more battery life from turning off if not using - so having something like a soundhound app widget on your home screen with location on will eat your battery before you know it's gone by activating the GPS.)
Dimming the screen if possible will see you the greatest gains in battery life, and then getting rid of any apps you can that are running in the background is the next biggest step - but again, if stock and unrooted there is only so much you can do on app management.
DON'T USE TASK KILLERS - EVER. (they do much, much more harm then any falsely perceived good you may think you are getting from them.)
Recap:
Screen = biggest battery drain.
GPS chip/use = second biggest drain.
Apps in background = third biggest drain.
Wifi/mobile data = negligable drain.
Hope this helps a bit.
Edit:
Oh, and welcome to XDA!

Blue pretty much covered everything that I was going to say. I also have the Anker battery, and I also have the Anker 5600 mah external battery, and I no longer have battery worries. I choose the Anker external battery over the other ones because of its small portable size, even though some of the other ones have more capacity. I find that I can get about two full charges of my phone with it, and it is small enough to fit in my pocket or purse with no problem. I highly recommend an external battery just for piece of mind, knowing that I no longer have to be searching every place I go for an outlet. I love that I can charge my phone while it is in my pocket or purse. Also the price isn't too bad, I bought mine for about $40, but I see Amazon now has it for $33. I bought it from a company called Laptop Mate on Amazon, and it was shipped amazingly fast even though I just got standard shipping. Laptop Mate then said if I wrote a review I could choose a free gift. The gifts were not anything spectacular, but the gesture was nice. At the time I could choose between a usb powered reading light, a card reader, and I forget what the other one was. Again nothing great, but it was just a nice bonus, I will definitely buy from that company again. So with my Anker internal battery, and my external battery, I could reasonably not have to plug my phone into the wall for at least two days, I could stretch it more if I was camping or something. I really like keeping my screen at full brightness, so that is where most of my drain comes from. Well, sorry for the long winded response, and welcome to XDA. I bet that in a month you will wonder what you ever did with out a smart phone.
http://www.amazon.com/Anker-Externa...on/dp/B005K7192G/ref=pd_rhf_gw_cpp_tab0_p_t_1

Thank you so much for your very thorough responses! I am happy to report that since making a few little changes (turning down my screen brightness, turning off the background data sync), performance is already noticeably better. Yesterday I was on battery power for close to 14 hours, was on and off WiFi, talked on the phone probably a couple hours total, and used it what I would consider a "normal" amount (e-mail, photos, some social networking)... and still had ~50% power left by the time I went to bed. That is much more reassuring to me, and I can only assume performance would get even better once I get those new batteries.
I understand about the "bloat" and having all these extra things running, but I think doing anything with the ROM is a little above my expertise at this point. For now, things seem to be working reasonably, so we'll see...
I like the external charger idea, but I am going to hold off for now. I ordered the 2-pack of Anker batteries, so once I get those, I'll have 3 batteries. One should be fine for a normal day, and if I'm really going to be out for a while and not have any opportunity to recharge, or will be using the phone a lot, I could just bring along a spare or two. (Good thing I am a lady with a purse - what do guys do?! Carry a man bag? My husband is considering getting the same phone, so this is a valid concern.)
I'm apparently too new to post a link to 2x Battery, which I've seen mentioned elsewhere on this board, but that's the name if you want to look it up in the Android Market. Even if it is using a little more battery power, I think it's worth it. It puts controls for things that use battery power all in one place, and it makes it very easy to monitor the current battery status. I think I'll stick with it, at least until I get a better sense of how my use affects the battery.

Per the question of a man hauling batteries, I just carry a spare battery or two I'm my front pocket. If I am carrying keys I will slap a piece of tape accross the terminals to prevent a short. One or two guys carry their spare gear in a camera case. I can haul most all I need in a corner of my Levi's front pocket.
I also used to run Juice Defender, it got irritating waiting for the data connection to spin up and the benefits were outweighed (IMHO) by the downsides. Killing data every time the screen turns off was grim.
Hastily spouted for your befuddlement

I have a zipper case I keep the phone in, and it's not much larger then the device itself. Above and beyond keeping dust out ( primary function ) it also has a small pocket on the outside I keep a few knick-knacks in, like a retractable micro-usb cable, backup memory card ( recovery purposes) mini flash drive and spare battery.
I highly recommend some kind of small zipper case for the device to keep out the dust, best $10 investment I've made for the phone.
Not in a position to link pics at the moment, but I'll do so over the next few days when I get the chance - especially floating loose in a potentially dusty purse it's something to consider.
I wish the video cable was something I could cram in to it as well, but that presents too much bulk for it to work, I have a mini camera case I carry sometimes with the A/V cable, AC adapter, another micro-usb cable and some memory cards and flash drives - something to consider for yourself for carrying cables and such since you most likely have room in your purse for a mini camera case with such things.
Sent from a digital distance.

Thanks for all the carrying tips!
Blue6IX said:
I highly recommend some kind of small zipper case for the device to keep out the dust, best $10 investment I've made for the phone.
Not in a position to link pics at the moment, but I'll do so over the next few days when I get the chance - especially floating loose in a potentially dusty purse it's something to consider.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not really worried about my own phone, it has its own little pocket inside my purse, and I don't know what kind of ladies you hang out with, but my purse is not dusty...

Please forgive - I meant no offense by it.
I threw in the word potentially because while I have seen some pristine purses, i've also seen some which haven't been vacuumed out in a long time, if ever. The very fine dust that gets in during the course of normal travel is what our enemy is here. (...and yours may be vacuumed out on a consistent basis, really only you can know.)
This need not just be dirt, even the fibers of the material wearing off in tiny fractions of an amount from simply carrying it around (material rubbing against material as it's shape stretches, bends and contorts) is enough to be a hazard to the device. Over time this adds up.
(though, saying it has it's own pocket/pouch within the purse itself lends a good deal more protection and paints a much better picture then the previous blanket statement of 'in my purse')
Due to the slide mechanism and the exposed back of the LCD screen it is very easy to get dust under the screen, in between the layers of it.
Slide it open with the screen at max brightness, then flip it over. Look at the very end of the slide channels on the screen side, from an angle on the side. You will be able to clearly see the light shining through opposite the T-Mobile branding on the backside of where the genius button is. Look past the greenish tint and see the whitish light, noticing how it extends inwards.
You can now look at the other side, right by the T-Mobile branding in the same spot and though you can't see the light shining through, you can see how very fine dust can work it's way in between the digitizer and screen.
'Dust under screen' is something that people who post here at XDA have made warranty exchanges over, as well as who knows how many who don't post have done. It's a valid exchange gripe that is in fact covered under warranty from what the people who have posted about it have led us to believe. There are also plenty of 'dust under screen' doubleshots on reduced price on ebay that you could look up this very moment.
Again, I meant no offense, but was simply trying to use the situation presented to illustrate a potential hazard your new device could fall victim of. Hopefully by bringing it to your attention you can take steps to minimize any damage, or at least present you with the opportunity to later be in a situation of:
'Oh well, at least I knew it was coming'
...as opposed to:
'Wow, I wish I knew that could have happened'
We only wish you to get the best experience possible from your Android, and while there is a lot of important info here...'tis easy to become overwhelmed by it all and miss some of the important things that could help you immediately, or should be known immediately.
Glad to hear you are already in better straights over the management of your available power!
By the way - thanks for endeavoring to clarify the app you were using for battery management, i'll definitely scope it out when I get a chance.

Blue6IX said:
Please forgive - I meant no offense by it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
None taken, I just thought it was funny
Thanks for the tips about dust, though. That wasn't something I had really considered, though I'm hoping to get a bit more life out of this phone than my last few (cheap, and switched on a whim), so I'll be sure to keep things clean. Is it ok to spray the back of the slide-out with some compressed air, or could that cause other problems?

Little update:
I did use a little compressed air to clean out the back of the phone, so hopefully I didn't hurt anything.
Two different cases are on their way to me - I'll see which I like more and return the other.
I've had the Anker battery in for just a couple hours, and it's already amazing! I've been using the phone a decent amount, turned on notifications and everything I'd switched off, and it's still at 100%! Also feels much cooler than the other battery. It was a tight fit, like everyone said, but I did get it in and fit the back cover over it.
But, weird thing: when I turn the phone sideways, the screen no longer rotates. It will still rotate if I slide the keyboard up, but otherwise it's like it doesn't recognize that the orientation changed. Did the battery mess something up?

The screen didn't rotate on it's own unless you slid the keyboard out if you are using the stock launcher - you may have made the same mistake I did in thinking it was so, but it wasn't.
Home screens, in the app drawer...etc... not made to auto-rotate.
You just happened to finally realize it - same thing happened to me.
I even argued against it, and couldn't figure out why it was changed.
A while later while I was going through the code that comprises Rosie (sense launcher) I actually saw that it wasn't made to do so.
So no, the battery didn't mess this up, it's the way it was supposed to be.
The reason for it is there is an alignment issue with some widgets when it switches from portrait to landscape in Rosie. I'm not sure how to fix it the way they have it coded, i've been scratching my head on this one for a while and tried a few things with no success.
HTC could learn a few things from some aftermarket app designers ( like the team that made GO launcher, for instance)
The way they built it, I don't think it's possible to fix their mistake, it's too interwoven and embedded in the design of the code.
Edit - it still and always has, autorotated while you are in apps themselves if they support it.

Oh you're right! That's funny, I never noticed before. In other apps, the screen does rotate normally, so I guess all is good...
Going on 12 hours with this battery, with all notifications, synching, etc. turned on, and I'm still at 67% ... And this is right out of the box, without the 4-5 cycles they recommend. I'm very happy with it so far!

Related

Would it be safe to

Ok. I love my Inspire + Android but the battery life just kills me. I'm a heavy GPS user because I go to NYC a lot and need to find places where to eat, subway directions, LIRR schedule, etc.
Anyway I was thinking, since the battery for the Inspire is small and thin, would it be safe to keep a spare charged battery in my wallet for when I need it? Even in my back pocket would be a good place to put it.
Yeah, plenty of people buy a second battery to switch out when one dies. When I bought my phone at Radioshack they tried to sell me one. It will be fine, just don't let the battery get too hot and maybe put it in something so no piece of metal can make pins contact each other.
Thanks for the answer
Two other options:
1) External battery. I have this one from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Energizer®-XP...2WWI/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1313594802&sr=8-5
Works pretty well. You simply attach it to the phone via a USB cable, and it charges it up.
2) Recently bought a powerskin case
http://www.amazon.com/PowerSkin-AP1..._1_1?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1313594686&sr=1-1
This adds bulk to the phone, but is really nice to have. Simply attach the case to the phone and you are good to go. The battery in the case keeps the phone charged. I only recently got this, but it works really well for all day use. The bulkiness of the case could be an issue. I only use it when I know that I will be away from a powersource all day. Otherwise, I go to my regular case, which is much slimmer.
Hope this helps.
I just rooted and s-off, battery life is much better.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

[Q] Best 3G solutions?

Hey guys
After a notable absence of Android in my life I'm heading back over with a TF300T. Now, as you may guess from the title I want to talk about my various connection options and draw from your experiences with the device to help me make the right choice in terms of getting my new baby online outside my house.
Obviously I could have gotten a device with built in modem but nothing really turned my head in terms of price and stuff, and as I recall just buying a device that just does what you want it to do already isn't really the Android spirit; half the fun is getting there.
Anyway, this leaves me with a number of imperfect options for data connections:
My phone will happily tether up to the tablet and because my network are cool dudes I can do that for free. Problem is that doing so means I can't make/recieve calls and texts while I'm tethered up and since I want mobile data love when I'm out of the house working that would seem to not be a great idea.
Secondly I could jump in with a mobile wifi thing, but I'm really not keen to get a another contract to make that happen and the amounts of data I'm likely to use (literally just web browsing for now and forever) are somewhat low and somewhat infrequent, making this seem to be a pretty bad useage of money. Also with devices offering 'Up to 5 hours of battery life'; well lets just that's not going to last me long enough to be useful.
Finally, I can grab a 3G USB stick and duck tape it to the device. It's the right stuff for my requirements, but it seems kinda non-trivial to hook up a USB device to the undocked tablet and certainly it seems totally unrealistic to wander around holding the tablet with usb adapter, then modem dongle sticking six inches out of the bottom. At worst it'll fall out, at best I'll break it. In the dock this looks great, assuming it'll work in the standard USB port, but outside it just seems silly.
My hope really was that I'd be able to find a cable that'd go from the propitiatory connector (Bad Asus!) to female usb so I could potentially stick the dongle flat against the back of the tablet without noticeably increasing it's footprint, but that seems unlikely. I've seen a guy on youtube who can make such a cable, but it takes soldering and that's somewhat outside my abilities.
So what kind of approach had you guys taken and what experiences have you had using this kind of ghetto-interweb solution? The key is to find the right add on that will let me still use my phone properly, that will give me long endurance but also minimal hassle... A bit of a reach really, but maybe I'm not thinking of all the options.
Apologies if anyone thinks this is in the wrong place, my XDA-fu is a little rusty but I'm pretty sure I'm in the right place. I've googled around and while I can find plenty of stuff telling me all the ways to hook the internet up, no-one seems to be answering what way I should approach making it all happen.
Best choice for me has been a mifi. Look up a Huawei 585 or 589 and plug in a sim and away you go. You can get some very cheap rolling monthly contracts these days for data only plans.
How have you found the battery life to be in practice? Can I leave the thing switched on and get some reasonable proportion of a day out of it? My hope really is that the battery estimates they give are 'x hours of actual internetting' instead of 'x hours of being switched on'. If it'll just quietly sit and stay connected for most of a day then that'll probably be fine, but if I have to finesse the thing on and off all day long just to get past lunch time that sounds pretty bad for my situation.

[Q] My Z3 is bad. Was it bad luck and should I try again?

Hi,
I have a Xperia Z3 for a few months now. Software wise it's great, I really love it. But I have a series of very annoying hardware issues.
1) USB cable doesn't connect properly. Well, it does, but any movement breaks the connection. Touching the cable, even lightly, disconnects the USB. I lost a lot of time transferring files and accidentally pushing the cable, and it's super scary to install sensitive stuff via USB.
2) It gets really hot really fast. Playing simple games or browsing the internet for 5 minutes already makes it warm. Playing hardware intensive games for 20 minutes make the phone so hot that it's *really* uncomfortable to hold it. I can't play games outside because I can't stand holding the phone, and putting it in my pocket just makes my leg hot because the heat is spreading through my pants. Despite that, I never got a overheat warning. It happens with both stock and custom ROMs, so I don't think it's a software issue.
3) I got a small crack on my screen. I have absolutely no idea how it happened, but I don't think I was careless. Is the screen too fragile? I don't think so, this one is probably my fault , but might as well ask.
I'm asking all of this because these problems are really annoying me, and I want a new phone. I really love this software/spec-wise, so I'm thinking to get the same. But damn, if I buy another Z3 just to have the same issues I'll feel like the biggest idiot on the planet.
So, was it just a bad luck thing or should I go for another phone?
Thanks for reading.
Hi Hexenir
I've had my z3 for around 6 months now and think it's a great phone.
No. 1, have you maybe worn the USB port out by connecting lots and lots of times? (you mentioned you've used custom roms so I assume you've flashed more than the average user) Do you charge through that port too, thus increasing how many times you've used that port? I use a Magnector to charge so I only use the USB port to side load apps and mine is totally stable. I can move the phone around whilst it's connected and it doesn't break connection. Also, are you using the cable that came with the phone? Sometimes other brands can be sloppy fitting.
No 2, I can't really comment here because I don't play intensive games on mine. I have browsed reddit for easily a full hour and there might be a slight temperature increase but nothing I wouldn't expect. It's also sat in a case so I'd imagine it's harder for my phone to get rid of heat.
No 3, As I just said, I use a case so I've not got any cracks on mine (yet, touch wood) but I haven't ever dropped it either. I use a Roxfit case and I'm really happy with it. I always used to keep my other phones naked (no case) but the glass front and back made me feel paranoid about dropping it. There's also the issue that the z3 can slide if it's on a flat/smooth surface (mine slid on my bed duvet and I've heard they've slid across tables) so again, my case stops this.
These aren't cheap phones so at the end of the day it's your decision but if you do, I'd recommend a magnector and a case. Another thing I should mention, I switched to a magnector because I worried about wearing the water tight seal by opening it to charge every 3 or 4 days. Have you recently done a pressure test to see if you've worn that seal out?
The Z3 is a great phone, but ...
1)
USB - I usually use the magnetic port for charging and do most file transfers by wifi so the only usage of the USB port is for me flashing roms. Nothing happened yet but I guess this is something which can be fixed under warranty.
2)
My kids play Asphalt 8 on it and it does get warm but not hot. Before investigating further I would recommend doing a factory reset to see whether this resolves the issue. If not, warranty may help either.
3)
A pain in the ass and you are not the only one. Depending on your country you may have difficulties to get that repaired.
1- Bad USB? Have you tried using another cable and/or another computer to see whether the same problem persist? I highly doubt its software issue, wouldn’t harm to do a repair with Sony PC Companion. If you have tried all those mentioned above, I would assume it’s a defected phone, hardware issue.
2- I think its normal for the Z series, they do tend to get warm easily. I have the Z and now the Z3, both experienced the same thing. One thing is that heat disperse poorly on glass in compared to metal. This might be one reason why many OEMs do not use glass back anymore. I know its a shame, beauty or performance, your choice. However, i would say the Z3 disperse heat far better than the Z.
in addition to that, it also depends your location. Here in Vancouver, its mostly raining and windy, so heat isnt that bad in compared to Asia, Hong Kong/China etc.
Idle average CPU temp is 24 Celsius
Browsing average CPU temp is 30 Celsius - 40 Celsius
Playing games reaches 4x Celsius fast. I normally let it cool after reaching that high. Thus, i barely play games on the phone.
3- I do not believe that the Z3 has gorilla glass 3/4 so I wouldn’t bet on the glass is "tough." That said, I would advise you to put on a screen protector regardless of whether you like it or not. Trust me, a simple screen protector will hold the glass together. I had the Z before and dropped like x times and the screen didn’t crack at all. Dropped my Z3 few times and its still fine.
Well if I purchase a phone where the screen cracked randomly and have the issues u mentioned I would not buy it again.
With the screen crack Sony will refuse to repair it under warranty but u can still try.
I always have an insurance when I buy Smartphones. I paid 150€ and it covers everthing Sony will refuse to repair.

Screen lifting off from frame, still a serious safety concern if phone is only used for tethering?

So I live in an area with no high speed internet and thusly have to use cell data as my house's internet source. We have a separate line (and phone) that is solely dedicated to this purpose. So it basically just acts as a modem via USB tether that goes through a stationary laptop to a router (so it's not the phone's "native" wifi hotspot; the phone is simply USB tethering to the laptop).
I have a Pixel 2 that I retired a few months back because the screen started separating from the frame (this was only a couple months after receiving a replacement phone from Google right at the end of the 2 year warranty, so it was refurbished). I'm fairly certain that the screen separation is due to the battery swelling which obviously presents all sorts of issues, especially if the phone is still actively used/moved around regularly.
The phone still turns on and functions as it always has, however I didn't want to take the risk of keeping it as my daily driver, so I upgraded and now it's just been sitting in a drawer for months. Since the phone is newer/has faster connection speeds than the one we're currently using as our "modem phone" that literally just sits on top of the laptop 24/7, I was thinking about swapping in the Pixel 2.
The big question/concern here is safety. How probable is the "phone explodes/sets house on fire" scenario given the (assumed) swollen battery if I use it solely as described? I was hoping the fact that it's not being moved around/taken in and out of pockets and the fact that it will just be receiving cell data and providing USB tethering (with screen turned off) would minimize the risk from physical impact/heat but I obviously want to be certain before doing anything
Li's if they internally short out can make a mess. The swelling could cause internal disarrangement leading to a short. Who knows?
If you ever stuck one in a fire you get the idea. Sometimes the don't do much but often they turn into a flying little white hot fireball. Lithium burns much the way magnesium does but is more reactive.
So... are you feeling lucky?
You could try replacing/removing the battery (not sure if it would work with just extarnal power source but you could try that too).
blackhawk said:
Li's if they internally short out can make a mess. The swelling could cause internal disarrangement leading to a short. Who knows?
If you ever stuck one in a fire you get the idea. Sometimes the don't do much but often they turn into a flying little white hot fireball. Lithium burns much the way magnesium does but is more reactive.
So... are you feeling lucky?
You could try replacing/removing the battery (not sure if it would work with just extarnal power source but you could try that too).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I'm not trying to spend the $150 or whatever to get the screen/battery replaced, I'd rather just buy a refurbished/used equivalent at that point.
I guess my main question would be: are the cases of phones exploding/catching on fire really all that common or are they just sort of sensationalized a bit because it happened a couple times in a somewhat surprising scenario (i.e. phone separating from screen).
Additionally, is it possible/at all likely that my screen was separating for some reason other than the battery swelling? I don't remember having any sort of battery issues before I noticed the screen separating but now I'm too afraid to put it on charge to turn it on and test it lol
Watch a tear down on that phone to judge if you want to give it a shot.
You need to verify the battery isn't the cause.
If it still has good capacity it may not be.
Swelling isn't their normal mode of failure so if it's doing so assume it could be a hazard.
Thanks for the quick replies btw, I'm now charging it while keeping a close eye on it and I'll see if the charge holds and goes from there. For reference, here is the degree of separation (lol) from the side.
As an aside, I always kept it inside a TPU rubber/plastic type case that just wrapped around the edges of the phone and I'm wondering whether or not to use it to help keep the screen in place or if that will just be detrimental due to the added insulation/heat. But I guess that depends on whether or not I can determine if the battery is the issue
Keep it out of a case as that will increase to heat and stress on the battery.
It will probably be ok.
Just remember if the battery leaks it's very caustic.

Keeping a phone ALWAYS plugged in AC, batteries tend to "get pregnant"

Hi dears,
I start using a old phone (samsung note, great phone by the way) as a always display for calendar, notifications (pushbullet). I know screen will suffer, but its agony is greater forgotten in a box.
Thing is, batteries keep getting "pregnant", firsts one was the original of the phone, thought to be old, and probably kept plugged during the forgotten times (like a year or two in a box). Then a spare one, also from Samsung, I used to have for travel and emergencies (good old times when batteries were replaceable). Last one, one bought from Alyexpress (sure not the best quality)
Any suggestion to be able to keep the phone always plugged and not over-whaterver the batery?
I have soldering machine and some skills, in case is necessary to build some external battery supply or similar. The battery itself is great as a UPS; but anyhow this phone does not turn on without batiere.
Last battery was this one, for reference: https://es.aliexpress.com/item/33008008965.html
Watch this video
really?
I have been told that NEVER puncture a swollen batery, it even could catch fire !

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